Ann Keen

Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox officeholder Ann Lloyd Keen (née Fox; born 26 November 1948) is a British Labour Party politician, who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Brentford and Isleworth from 1997, until she was defeated by Conservative candidate Mary Macleod in 2010. She served as a health minister in the government of Gordon Brown.

Early life

Keen is the daughter of steelworker John Lloyd Fox and Ruby Hughes. She went to Elfed Secondary Modern School in Buckley, Clwyd, then gained a PGCEA (Postgraduate Certificate in the Education of Adults) from the University of Surrey. She worked in the National Health Service (NHS) before training as a registered nurse at Ashford General Hospital in Ashford, Middlesex,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and won prizes as Nurse of the Year and Children's Nurse of the Year. She later became a district nurse. From 1989 to 1993, she was Head of the Faculty of Advanced Nursing at Queen Charlotte's College in Hammersmith (now part of Thames Valley University) and she also served as General Secretary of the Community and District Nursing Association.<ref name="bbc-vote2001">Template:Cite news</ref>

Parliamentary career

Keen stood for the Brentford & Isleworth seat in 1987 and 1992 though was unsuccessful on both occasions.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> For the 1997 election she was again selected, on this occasion through an all-women shortlist.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This method of selection was declared unlawful in January 1996 as it breached sex discrimination laws.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> Despite the ruling she remained in place as the candidate for the 1997 general election, when she became an MP defeating Conservative MP Nirj Deva.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Keen's first role in Parliament came in 1999 when she was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Frank Dobson, Secretary of State for Health, though this appointment lasted less than a month.<ref name="guardian-hist">Template:Cite news</ref> She then moved to the Treasury,<ref name="bbc-vote2001"/> later becoming Parliamentary Private Secretary to the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown.<ref name="guardian-hist"/> In 1999, The Guardian newspaper revealed that she had acted as a "secret go-between" for the Labour Party and Shaun Woodward, at the time the MP for Witney, as he attempted to defect from the Conservative Party in the same year.<ref>Top Tory defects to Labour. Publisher: The Guardian. Published: 19 December 1999. Retrieved: 12 April 2012.</ref>In 2000 Keen became well known for campaigning on gay rights, her interest in the issue sparked when she was reunited with her gay son who she had given up for adoption.<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk">Template:Cite news</ref> In the same year she also successfully ran a campaign to elect Michael Martin as Speaker to the House of Commons.<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk"/>

She was defeated at the 2010 general election by Conservative candidate Mary Macleod on a swing of 6%.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Health minister

Keen campaigned in parliament on health issues as a backbencher, and served on the health select committee.<ref name="tg-nursing">Template:Cite news</ref> In 1998, Keen proposed an Early Day Motion calling for equitable care for women with ovarian cancer, which was supported by over 100 other MPs.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On 29 June 2007, in Brown's first reshuffle as Prime Minister she was promoted to become a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department of Health, where her brief included NHS dentistry.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2009–2010, Keen led the Prime Minister's independent commission on the future of nursing and midwifery in England, which resulted in the report Front Line Care (Report).<ref>Front Line Care: the future of nursing and midwifery in England</ref>

Policies

Heathrow Airport expansion

On 28 January 2009, Keen voted against a motion in Parliament calling for a review of the decision to add a third runway at Heathrow Airport.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Keen had claimed to be opposed to expansion at Heathrow for many years;<ref name="hct-heathrow"/> her website stated in 2007 that "one of her most successful campaigns was against the Third Runway at Heathrow."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Friends of the Earth said she had "betrayed her constituents."<ref name="hct-heathrow">Template:Cite news</ref>

Expenses

Keen and her MP husband Alan Keen used their combined second homes allowances to buy an apartment on the South Bank of the River Thames. The Waterloo apartment was nine miles from their constituency home in Brentford, a 30-minute drive from Westminster.

In 2009, their Brentford home was occupied by squatters<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> after it was unoccupied for 9–12 months following a dispute with a building firm undertaking renovation work. In defending their part in the expenses scandal the Keens stated "we have advocated, strongly supported, and voted for the introduction of Freedom of Information legislation. We are pleased that the point has been reached when full details of MPs' expenses are being published on a regular basis for everyone to see".

A formal investigation into the Keens' expenses by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards ruled in March 2010 that the Keens had breached the expenses rules and that he regarded the breach of the rules as "serious", and involving "significant public funds". He suggested the Keens pay back four months worth of their claims – some £5,678. However, The Commons Standards and Privileges Committee of MPs disagreed with his findings and ordered them to repay £1,500.<ref>Labour's Ann and Alan Keen ordered to repay £1,500. (www.telegraph.co.uk)</ref>

Misuse of stationery

In May 2009 the Parliamentary ombudsman instructed Keen to repay £4,583 for sending unsolicited letters to her constituents. Keen invited them to coffee mornings using prepaid envelopes and on House of Commons headed stationery, a breach of Parliamentary rules as they are only permitted to be used for replies. Keen said the correspondence was sent by "a new member of staff ... on House of Commons instead of constituency stationery. When it was brought to my attention I immediately refunded the cost."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In April 2005 Keen also attracted criticism for using schools to distribute party political material to children's parents.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

John Taylor's failed legal claim

In February 2009 constituent John Taylor alleged Keen had breached her 'duty of care' to a constituent in failing to assist his attempts in achieving compensation for wrongful imprisonment. Keen was initially ordered to pay £15,000 in damages by a judgment entered in default, but the ruling was later set aside, with the judge stating there was no entitlement in law for him to bring such a claim. Keen said, "As an MP I deal with huge numbers of cases each year for my constituents, many of which have successful outcomes. "Unfortunately, some cases for a variety of reasons do not have successful outcomes. Despite trying my hardest for Mr Taylor for more than 10 years since 1997, this was one such case."<ref>War veteran's case against Ann Keen MP overturned (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)</ref> The case was believed to be the first of its kind.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Personal life

She married Alan Keen, who sat as a Labour MP from 1992 until his death in 2011, in 1980. Her sister, Sylvia Heal, also a former Labour MP, was one of three Deputy Speakers of the House of Commons under former Speaker Michael Martin.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Keen has two sons and one daughter. In 1966, as an unmarried mother, she was forced to give up her son for adoption at his birth and was only reunited with him in 1997.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

External links

• Ann Keen MP official site
• Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: Ann Keen MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com – Ann Keen MP
• BBC Politics page Template:Webarchive
• Template:Hansard-contribs